Blacks Ask Divided Memphis To Pay Homage To Two Kings

July 26, 1987|By Jim Nesbitt of The Sentinel Staff

MEMPHIS — When you say the King died here, most people think of Elvis Presley. But there is another King with a deadly connection to this river city -- Martin Luther, the civil rights leader who was assassinated here in 1968.

''This is the only city in the U.S. that had two kings die in it -- the King of rock 'n' roll and the King of civil rights,'' said Calvin C. Brown, who has lived in the Lorraine Hotel, the site of King's assassination, since 1972.

''Both had the blues. One sang it, the other spoke it.''

Martin Luther King's memory is painful for this city. Many seem willing to let it languish in the shadow of Presley and Graceland, the drawing card for more than 500,000 tourists a year.

The contrast between lack of interest in King and the civic ballyhooing of Presley has been sharpened by preparations for an Elvis International Tribute Week at Graceland next month, marking the 10th anniversary of his death.

This contrast angers black civic leaders, who say it symbolizes the racial rift that still plagues a city that is half black, half white.

''Memphis is kind of like the last bastion of the Civil War,'' said D'Army Bailey, a local attorney. ''Whites seem to be making their last stand here, content to let everything fall down instead of dismantling and reorganizing to include everybody.''

Bailey heads an organization that wants to make a civil rights museum out of the Lorraine, a haven for hookers, day laborers and down-and-outers.

The neighborhood around the hotel is not a place for the faint of heart, and even the stout-hearted tourist will find little to commemorate King's death. A wreath, a cheap placard and a glass enclosure are all that mark the door of Room 306, where King was killed as he stood on the balcony. A wire- bound school notebook serves as a guest register; a glass case houses a weathered Bible and some worn pamphlets and books about King.

Bailey and company want the entire hotel to become a museum. They also plan a laser light, stabbing from the window a street away that served as a sniper's perch for convicted assassin James Earl Ray. They want to build a tower designed to divert sunlight onto placards explaining milestones in the civil rights movement.

There have been sporadic attempts to convert the Lorraine into a King memorial since shortly after his death. Bailey's group bought the hotel four years ago, but it was only this year that city, county and state leaders agreed to a $2.2 million package to fund the project.

Bailey blames the delay on white political leaders' reluctance to pay homage to King. He says the reasons vary from the idea that King's assassination was bad for the city's image to the fear that a tribute to King will underscore inequities between blacks and whites in Memphis.

These same civic leaders, said Bailey, seem content to bask in the glory of the other king, the king of rock 'n' roll.

''You've got as many or more people who would be moved to attend a tribute to Dr. King and the Movement as you do to attend a tribute to Elvis Presley,'' he said.

Memphis civic leaders say Bailey's characterization is unfair. They say Graceland is a privately-funded operation, while the Lorraine project relies on public money. They say the funding package for the Lorraine represents the efforts of white and black politicians. And they point out that bickering among blacks -- from the objections of King's widow to a political squabble over the choice of architects -- have stalled the project.

But they also agree the city still suffers from a rift between blacks and whites, particularly on the economic front. The average income of whites in Memphis is $26,000, 10 percent above the national average for whites; the average income for blacks in Memphis is $13,000, 10 percent below the national average for blacks.

''There are two cities operating side by side,'' said Tom Jones, an aide to Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris. ''And until we address that, our future is in jeopardy.''